Word: russia
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...arrival of a new Patriarch is also creating plenty of anticipation among religious leaders outside of Russia. Attending Alexy's funeral last month was an impressive array of clerics from dozens of countries and religions, including the main branches of Christianity. Notably, several prominent Catholic Cardinals showed up. Rome has no sway over the Orthodox Church's choice, but it is deeply interested in the new Patriarch. The 1-billion-strong Catholic Church is eager to forge closer ties to the largest branch of Orthodox Christianity after a millennium of prickly (at best) relations following the Great Schism...
...Patriarch in the next few weeks. Among the names being mentioned are Metropolitan Filaret, the scholarly patriarchal exarch of Belarus; Metropolitan Cyril, the well-known head of the external-relations department of the Moscow Patriarchate; and Metropolitan Kliment, the more liberal administrator of the Patriarchate. (See pictures of Russia's victory...
...Within Russia, where Orthodox Christmas is celebrated Wednesday, the stakes for succession are high. Alexy, who rose to power in 1990, led his church through the convulsive but ultimately fruitful transition to the post-Soviet era. Religious freedom blossomed. The church, which counts some 110 million faithful (though far fewer attend church regularly), grew in importance after decades of suppression under Communism...
...best candidate to succeed Alexy. Heading the powerful external-affairs department of the Patriarchate, he has been a leading Orthodox figure abroad and has long championed improved interfaith dialogue. He played a backroom role in reuniting the Moscow-based church with followers of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia, though he has been criticized for allegedly profiting from the church's stake in the alcohol and tobacco trade in the 1990s...
Winter swimming has been popular in Scandinavia and Russia for years, but the most intense thing I've heard is this guy in Antarctica who jumped into a hole in the ice. I can't believe that. Hats off to him. We also got an e-mail two years ago from some of our troops in Iraq who did a New Year's Day plunge in Saddam's pool. I think that's pretty great...